Baby 81 to rejoin family after DNA test

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After eight agonising weeks, the Sri Lankan boy lost in the
December 26 tsunami and known as "Baby 81" after he was found
alive, reclaimed his identity yesterday. And he regained his
parents.

It was the news they had been waiting for. But when it came, it
was almost too much.

"I knew," Junitha Jeyarajah sobbed as she threw her arms around
the lawyer who delivered the DNA results to her. "I knew he was my
baby."

His name, a court ruled, is Abilash Jeyarajah, born on October
19 last year to Mr M. Jeyarajah, 30, and his wife Junitha, 25. The
determined and desperate couple made international headlines two
weeks ago when they stormed a hospital and tried to steal him from
his crib.

"I thank God. I am very happy," Mrs Jeyarajah told The Age.

She will be allowed to take her son home tomorrow. The DNA
results, revealed in court yesterday, ended two months of
uncertainty and drama surrounding the infant, who became a symbol
of families torn apart by the tsunami.

As word spread of Baby 81, grieving parents filed through his
hospital ward in the hope that he might be their lost child. At
least 15 families tried to claim him. Abilash was the 81st
admission to Kalmunai Base Hospital on the day the tsunami struck.
He was brought in by a man who had found him in the rubble and
bodies on Sri Lanka's east coast.

The hospital treated him for bruising to the head and marked his
identity as"unknown".

Dr K. Muhunthan guessed his age was between four and five
months.

While so many families claimed him, the Jeyarajahs remained the
most determined.

As soon as they saw him they were convinced he was theirs.

But it was not enough. Thousands of parents had lost babies and
with 14 other sets of parents claiming him, DNA tests were ordered
to find his identity.